How Deep-Rooted Childhood Bonds Shape Your Adult Caregiving Style
Your loved one is diagnosed with dementia. While you focus on symptoms, tasks and decisions, a long-standing pattern from your childhood is being triggered. That pattern will shape your caregiving style.
That childhood pattern is also being triggered in your loved one. Understanding the pattern can help you understand your loved one's behavior.
Understanding can lead to compassion for your loved one and for yourself.
From her book, Dementia, Caregiving & Personal History: How to Help, Cope, Connect, and Heal, author Tami Anastasia writes: "Our earliest relationships influence how we connect with others: our need for closeness, our ability to trust, and how we respond to life cirumstanes."
In this first of several interviews, Tami talks about the bonds we formed with the people who cared for us when we were children and how those deep-rooted attachment styles influence our relationships as adults, especially in times of stress or crisis.
She sheds light on these four attachment styles:
- Secure Attachment: Living with Confidence
- Anxious Attachment: Seeking Validation Through Caregiving
- Avoidant Attachment: Struggling with Emotional Closeness
- Disorganized Attachment: Being Caught Between Love and Fear
Tami Anastasia holds a masters in counseling with more than 30 years of experience supporting family and professional caregivers. To learn more about Tami and her book, please go to her website
Are you caring for a spouse with dementia? Have you written a book about dementia? Please let me know. I'd love to speak with you. Send an email to: zita@myspousehasdementia.com
